Improvement in mowing-machines



' NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. THOMPSON, OF GREENFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MOWING-MA-OHINES.

To all 107mm it may concern: p

Be it known that I, JOHN W. THOMPSON, of

Greenield, in the countyof Franklin and State ot' Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Mowing-Machine; and I do hereby ldeclare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,makinga part of this specification- Figure l being a top view of my said machine; Fig. 2, a section in part in the line y y of Fig. l and a side elevation of the remainder of the machine; Fig. 3, an elevation ofthe extreme inner side of the machine; and Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 represent portions of the machine in detail.

Similar letters indicate like parts in all the drawings.

long rectangular frame, which rests upon the arbor a of they broad-faced wheel A. The tongue B of the machine is secured to the upper surface of the frame t, as represented in Fig. l. From the under surface of the inner portion of the frame c, at a point about halfway between the center and the forward end thereof, there descends a pendant, p, and immediately opposite said pendant, and corresponding therewith in size, another pendant (not shown in the drawings) descends from the under side of thetongue B. The said pendant p and the corresponding pendant descending from the under side of the tongue B serve to support the shaft b. Motion is imparted to the shaft b by means of a pinion on one end thereof, which gears into the teeth which project from the inner periphery of the inwardly-projecting rim of the wheel A. (Shown in Fig. 2.)

An arm, q, is bolted to the forward inner corner of the rectangular frame fu, which arm curves rearward to a point immediately above the forward side of the pendant p, Fig. 2, and thence projects at right angles to the frame of thev machine a distance a little greater than the required length of the cutter-plates to be used in the machine, and then curves downward first vertically and then rearwardly a ldistance alittle greater than the semi-diameter of the bearing-wheel A, so that the outer bearing end of said arm, actingin conjunction with the, frame u and the wheel A, will keep said arm in a horizontal position, or a position parallel to the surface that the machine mayV stand upon. The bearing end of the arm q should be armed with a steel shoe, m, having` a pointed projecting forward end, which shoe serves the purpose of cleanly separating ra proper quantity of standing grass for the cutters to operate upon at one time, and also serves to protect the end of the said arm from being worn away by friction.

The vibrating arm 7c, which is connected to the inner end of the cutter-box o u, has its forward end jointed to the outer sideof the pendantp by means of the pivot-screw w, and the vibrating arm l, which is connected to the outer end of the cutter-box, is jointed to the inner side Of thevertical portion of the arm q, as shown in Fig. 3. The saw-teeth cutter-plates efare placed one above the other in a rabbet in the shoe-piece o, and are covered by the protecting-plate n, which is combined with said cutter-plates and shoe-piece by means of the connecting-bolts t t, which pass through longitudinal slots in each cutter-plate. Ears Mrise from each end of a longitudinal slot near the front side of the inner end of the cut ter-plate e, and similar ears,jj, rise from the ends of a longitudinal slot in the under cutterplate, f, through a notch formed in the after portion of the inner end of the upper cutterplate, e, as represented in Fig. S. The after end of a cam-shaft, d, works in a journal-box secured to the after side of the inner end of the shoe-piece o of the cutter-plate box, while the forward end of said shaft works'in an aperture in the lug s, which projects from the outer side ot' the vibrating arm 7c. (Shown in Fig. 5.) The cam g on the said shaft d works between the ears t' z' on the cutter-plate e, and the cam h, which projects from the opposite side of said shaft, works between the ears jj, rising from the cutter-plate f. It will therefore be perceived that the rotation of the shaft l will cause its cams g It to reciprocate the cutter-plates e f in opposite directions. Rotary motionis imparted tothecam-shaft el by means of a bevel-wheel on the intermediate shaft, b, beinggeared into a bevel pinion on the forward end of said cam-shaft d. The axis of movement of the vibrating arms 7c l being exactly in line with the axis of the aforesaid shaft '1), it will readily he perceived that the upward and downward movements of the box o u will not change the relative position of the bevel-pinion on the camshaft dwith the bevelwheel on the shaft b, and therefore the position ofthe said cutter-plate box can self-adapt itself to every inequalityof surface without in the slightest degree straining or disarranging the combination of parts that serve to conilnunicate motion from the main Wheel A to the cutter-plates.

The outer end of the arm q may be supported by a brace, r, extending therefrom to the after inner angle of therectangular framev, as shown in Fig. 1.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Connecting the cutterplate box o n to the after ends of freely-vibrating arms 7c Z, in combination with lthe rectangular frame Q: and the inwardly projecting and sustaining arm q, when the said part-s, together with the cutterplates and their gearing, are arranged in relation to the main Wheel A substantially in the manner herein set forth.

The above specilication of myimproved mowing-machine signed and witnessed this 23d day 0f May, 1556.

JOHN W. THOMPSON.

Witnesses:

Z. O. ROBBINs, S. H. SHAKSPEARE. 

